From US 2016/037613 A1 a system is known which adjusts environmental conditions, such as light levels, based on an average of user preferences in a given area.
A lighting system for illuminating an environment may comprise a plurality of luminaires, each of which, in turn, comprises a light source in the form of one or more lamps that emit configurable illumination into the environment. The lamps may for example be LED lamps, filament bulbs, gas discharge lamps etc.
The luminaires may be inter-connected so as to form a lighting network. In order to control the illumination, a gateway, such as a lighting bridge, may be connected to the network. The gateway can be used to communicate control signals via the network to each of the luminaires, for example under the control of a general-purpose computer device connected to the gateway.
The lighting network may have a mesh topology, whereby the luminaires themselves act as relays within the lighting network, relaying control signals between the gateway and other luminaires in the network. Alternatively, the network may have a star topology, whereby luminaires communicate with the gateway “directly” i.e. without relying on other luminaires to relay the control signals (though possibly via other dedicated network components). Generally, the network can have any suitable network topology e.g. based on a combination of star-like and mesh-like connections. The lighting network may for example operate in accordance with ZigBee protocols.
Modern lighting systems may be controlled using a general purpose computing device which allows much more convenient control than traditional wall switches. The computing device may be a personal computing device of the user such as a smart phone or a dedicated computing device within the environment such as a desktop PC or server. Either way, a user within the environment is able to control the light output of the luminaires by using the computing device to transmit control signals to the luminaires. This also allows, say, office or shop lighting to be controlled largely automatically, for example by a server.